Day 3 - Springdale, UT to Pipe Springs National Monument, AZ

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Bryce, Zion & North Rim

Day 3 - Springdale, UT to
Pipe Springs National Monument, AZ

On the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States suffered a horrorific terrorist attack. Terrorists hijacked four jet airliners. Two airliners crashed into each of the World Trade Center towers in New York, causing them to colapse. A third crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

We got an early start at 8 a.m. and headed into town for breakfast. I was about 1/3 of the way through my breakfast when we heard the news reports about the terrorist attacks. I immediately felt sick to my stomach. All six of us were in complete shock. We bought some groceries and headed down the road. But, it didn't feel right. Our feelings of fun and adventure vanished.

We took a short cut to UT route 59 called Smithsonian Butte Road. We knew this was a dirt road. What we didn't anticipate were the steep grades. We had to push our bikes up a steep grade.

The climb kept going and going. Finally, we emerged on large plain. We reached UT route 59. Here we encountered strong head winds, no shoulder and a chip-seal road surface.

Bob pushes his bike up Smithsonian Butte Road.

Utah Route 59

We stopped at a convenience store/restaurant on the Utah-Arizona border. The town of Colorado City is a reputed haven for polygamists. Women staffed the store. All of them seemed to be pregnant. They wore long dresses and had their hair braided and tied in the back. They had an Amish look to them. We talked to the woman at the cash register about the tragedy in New York. She said it was "Clinton's fault". We asked her to explain. She said we were paying for "Clinton's crap". She was very strange.

OK. It's not the Ritz. But, at least they could clean the place once in a while.

About 2 miles down the road, we spoke to a man in a pickup truck that asked if we heard the news. He said that it was "pay back",. At this point, I had enough of religious fanaticism.

We rode through 20 miles of open rangeland. We are currently camped on the Kaibab-Paiute Indian Reservation. The campground. run by the tribe, is a rundown dump. The bathrooms are filthy with no toilet paper.

Tarantula
"Say 'hello' to my little friend." While I was typing this message, Jean spotted a tarantula crawling next to my Teva shod feet. I leaped off my seat. I got photo of it.